Possible California location of the fictional Bates Motel
In the PSYCHO franchise, the Bates Motel supposedly exists just outside the fictional town of FAIRVALE. One Internet source claims, 20 miles. That seems far. In the sequels the real city of Bakersfield stood in for the downtown of Fairvale. The downtown looked way too developed to be a rural, dusty, desert California town that Fairvale may have been depicted.
I tried to estimate the location of the Bates Motel if it actually existed in California. I heard a BIG HINT near the end of PSYCHO II, when a news reporter reports that law enforcement assistance came 'down' from Bakersfield, which means Fairvale is located south of Bakersfield. Had Fairvale been north of Bakersfield, the reporter would have said, come 'up' from Bakersfield. I estimate the Bates Motel would have existed just south of Bakersfield and north of Santa Clarita and Lancaster. The likely area would be around the east-west rural highway 223, or as far south as the east-west rural highway 138. Those areas have the dusty, desert look of the movies. There are a number of secondary highways and country roads crisscrossing the region. The Bates Motel was not a profitable motel because it was situated away from the main, north-south California main freeways. As it was, the backlot of the huge Universal Studios lot back in 1959 looked very desert-like in some spots.
P.S.
The book's author lived in Northern California and may have been inspired to create the fictional town's name, FAIRVALE, from three, small cities in the region that begin with, 'Fair...', namely, Fairville, Fairwell, and Fairview.